VIJAY SHARMA Vs. STATE OF J&K AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is aggrieved of his non -selection to the post of Technician Grade -III in the Power Development Department pursuant to Advertisement Notice No. 6 of 1997 dated 01.07.1997. He by the medium of present writ petition is seeking a direction to the respondents to select and appoint him against the said post as per his merit position in the selection process and also grant him all consequential benefits with effect from the date other similarly situated candidates came to be selected and appointed against the said post. The facts -in -brief, as gathered from the writ record, are that pursuant to advertisement Notice No. 6 of 1997, dated 01.07.1997 petitioner applied for the post of Technician Grade -III in Power Development Department for Divisional as well as District Cadre posts. The qualification prescribed for the said post was Matriculate with ITI in Electric/Electronics. Service Selection Board issued the select list in the year 1998. Petitioner could not find his name in either of the select lists of Divisional as well as District Cadre posts of Technician Grade -III. For District Cadre Rajouri the Board had selected as many as 45 candidates and the last selected candidate had secured 44.08 marks. Aggrieved of his non -selection petitioner filed SWP No. 1252/1998 in this Court challenging the selection of selected candidates. Other aggrieved candidates also filed writ petitions challenging the same selection, lead case being SWP No. 879/1998. A coordinate Bench of this Court while disposing of these petitions directed the respondents to appoint the petitioners therein against the available vacancies in different districts without disturbing the selection already made. It was further directed that the petitioners therein would also be entitled to all consequential benefits minus the monetary benefits. The Court was also of the view that the respondent -Board had wrongly fixed the weightage for technical qualification as 80 points, and did not assess the candidates as far as qualification of matric was concerned.

(2.) AGAINST the said judgment, J & K Service Selection Board filed LPA(SW) No. 378/99. The LPA Bench vide judgment dated 16.11.2002, while setting aside the order of learned Single Judge, directed the respondents to re -draw merit list of the candidates according to their merit by preparing state -wise list within a period of three months and, thereafter, direct the candidates to join their duties at the particular place after taking undertaking from them. The judgment of LPA Bench was further challenged before the Apex Court in SLP(C) No. 7612/2003 and other connected matters. The Apex Court while disposing of these cases vide judgment dated 26.10.2005 held as under:

(3.) PURSUANT to the aforesaid decision, respondent No. 3 undertook the exercise for implementing the judgment of Apex Court with Financial Commissioner and Secretary to Government, Power Development Department vide communication dated 22.06.2006. In the concluding part of said communication it was observed as under: